The Silent Treatment

It has
become traditional for Lung Ha Theatre Company – Scotland’s principal theatre
group for people with learning disabilities – to present at least one
large show every year that gives a role of some importance to every member of
the ensemble. This is by no means an easy task, requiring both a script and a
performance space capable of supporting nearly 20 performers of varying
abilities and mobility. Nevertheless, such has been the quality of Lung Ha’s
recent work, under the nuanced guidance of Artistic Director Maria Oller, that
the company now finds itself welcomed on some of Scotland’s most important
stages, including Glasgow’s Tron Theatre and Edinburgh’s Traverse.

While a few performers’ movements are somewhat stilted, Janis Claxton’s choreography overall is effective, with several cast members excelling in their own little character-defining moments.

The
quality of Lung Ha’s work also attracts some of the most innovative and
exciting theatre talent in Scotland; in the case of The Silent Treatment,
this is playwright Douglas Maxwell, whose recent successes include Yer
Granny – an adaptation of Robert Cossa’s La Nona – for the
National Theatre of Scotland, and the innovative Fever Dream: Southside for
Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre. With Lung Ha, Maxwell appears to have taken on the
challenge of writing a play with, for the most part, little or no dialogue; for
some of Lung Ha’s most experienced performers, this takes their seemingly
innate talent for comedy into a far more physical realm than ever before.

Set
within a sponsored silence in a school hall, in a remarkably realistic set
designed by Jessica Brettle, the action launches with Nicola Tuxworth’s Billie being ejected after six minutes for unthinkingly saying “Bless You” when her
boyfriend Arthur [Lung Ha stalwart Stephan Tate] sneezed. She decides, in
anger, to undermine the whole endeavour – despite the fact that the sponsored
silence is actually intended to raise funds for her own ill mother.

What
follows is essentially an hour of physical escapades in which Tuxworth and a
lone accomplice attempt to ruin friendships and frustrate relationships by
stealing people’s hats, lottery-winning scratch cards, and packets of biscuits.
Further confusion is caused by the repeatedly unexpected arrival of four
workmen [led by Mark Howie, sadly denied his usual opportunity to land a few
verbal punchlines], distinctive in their high visibility jackets and bowler
hats. Their presence in the room at first appears somewhat arbitrary and
sometimes meandering, though (of course) this proves not to be the case later
on.

While
a few performers’ movements are somewhat stilted, Janis Claxton’s choreography
overall is effective, with several cast members excelling in their own little
character-defining moments. Everyone, however, is aided by M J McCarthy’s
almost hypnotic score, with its continuous, clock-based rhythms and overt tonal
shifts to denote characters and mood. The result is an entertaining hour that,
while not necessarily crystal clear in its dramatic intent, at least avoids the
innate cruelty of slapstick and concludes with an upbeat moment that leaves a
smile on everyone’s faces.

Paul F Cockburn is an Edinburgh-based freelance magazine journalist. Since 2012 he has become one of Broadway Baby's most regular contributors, having written more than 400 reviews for the site. As Scotland editor he coordinates Broadway Baby's Scottish theatre coverage beyond the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

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The Blurb

A sponsored silence is on; so whatever you do you have to keep it zipped, keep it buttoned, keep it together – even when one of the group is doing all she can to break you down.

And how can you, could anyone, stay silent when one of the team has just won wads of cash; and what about those builders who just keep popping in and out, surely something has to be said to them?

Renowned playwright Douglas Maxwell, composer MJ McCarthy and the Lung Ha Theatre Company performers take you on a (quiet) journey where silence is golden - but there are many ways to overcome silence when there is just so much to be said.

Lung Ha Theatre Company aims to be a leading theatre company for people with learning disabilities, in Scotland and beyond.